The Australian defence department pressured Meta to remove a popular veterans meme page from Facebook and Instagram as well as dozens of posts – including those referencing the widely used Downfall meme.
Documents released last week by the department under freedom of information laws reveal multiple emails from Defence to Meta since 2019 requesting the removal of posts from the Pineapple Express page. The page is followed by defence veterans and personnel, and has more than 79,000 followers and 62,000 likes.
Defence was previously successful in having the Facebook page and Instagram account taken down. But the emails reveal that in May 2019 an unidentified staff member from departments’s social media team contacted Meta complaining that the pages were live again.
Defence held meetings with Meta over the page, according to the documents.
Meta removed videos that identified individual Australian Defence Force members, but took a stronger stance against other removal requests. One post depicted the defence force chief, Gen Angus Campbell, drinking out of a prosthetic leg – a doctored image imitating a photo reported by Guardian Australia in 2020. Defence asked for it to be “addressed urgently”. Meta refused to remove the meme.
“The post with the chief of the Australian Defence Force is a meme and we allow for such memes on our platforms. Especially as he is a public figure as part of his role,” a Meta staffer said.
In June 2019, a separate page was taken down for violating Meta’s bullying policies. A defence staffer thanked Meta for the work to date on dealing with the reports from the department, but said there was “plenty of work” to be done to have “the majority of the main offenders reported and removed so we can move from an offensive position to simply monitoring content”.
When the Pineapple Express page was removed in the same month, Meta temporarily blocked it at device level so the user would not be able to create a new account on Instagram. The account, however, returned.
In October 2020, in response to a Downfall meme about the army, Defence claimed to Meta that “this video implies that this army employee acts and treats his colleagues like Hitler. This constitutes bullying and harassment.”
Meta refused to remove the video.
Defence also attempted to have posts removed on copyright infringement and claims posts were “fake news”.
Meta refused to comment on how often Defence had made requests for the removal of content. The company’s transparency report on government requests only relates to the government seeking data on users.
In a post on the Pineapple Express page, its administrators said “we won’t be silenced”.
“We believe in the power of open dialogue and we’re committed to sharing diverse perspectives about the military and its leaders. The journey to true transparency isn’t always easy, but it’s necessary.”
They said the documents show that Defence’s top priority seems to be shutting down the page.
Defence did not respond to questions on the number of requests made or about the process, but a spokesperson for the department said concerns were raised where the content “could cause harm to our people”.
“Defence raises concerns with social media platforms where organisations or groups post Defence-related content that the organisation believes could cause harm to our people. A decision to remove content is a matter for the relevant social media platform, in accordance with the platform’s community standards.”
In Meta’s most recent report on the industry misinformation and disinformation code, the company said that in the year up to 30 June 2022, it “took action on over 91,000 pieces of content on Facebook and over 40,000 pieces of content on Instagram in Australia for violating our hate speech policies”.
Action was taken on another 200,000 pieces of content on Facebook and 46,000 on Instagram for violating standards on violence and incitement.
Meta does not break down how many of these came following a request from the government.
News Corp previously reported that ADF personnel had been investigated for liking, sharing and commenting on the page. News Corp also reported that a comment on the page allegedly contained abuse and the personal contact details of Dr Samantha Crompvoets, the military sociologist whose work triggered the explosive Brereton war crimes inquiry.
Pineapple Express told News.com.au Crompvoets’ contact details were disseminated in the comments section by a follower of the page and that the comment in question was deleted.
The revelation this week has led to a flurry of new FoI requests to Defence, including one seeking contract information from any third party providing social media strategy to the department.
